How to build a successful website

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 6 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #5,047 in Business, #108,730 overall

Do it right the first time!

Do you want to save time and money and build a successful website the first time?

I'm sure that's what everyone wants.

The next question: how much do you know about all the technical aspects of building and maintaining a website?

If you are an expert and don't intend to change what is currently working for you, then this lens has nothing to offer you.

For everyone else, beginner to expert, you can build a successful website without wasting time or money and without tearing out your hair in the process.

I've watched it being done.

Over the last several years, I've built dozens of websites. Most have not thrived, or even survived. Some just failed to capture reader interest and I dropped them. Others were hacked and destroyed by people who don't know me and don't care. I lost interest in others and took them down.

Now, I have about 20 sites, a few blogs, and a couple of forums that are doing okay to very well.

It occurred to me last year that I've had to change - or even completely rebuild - almost all of my websites sometime in the last couple of years.

The single exception is my Act On Your Dream! site, and this is the only one built on and hosted by Site Build It!

I don't know how many thousands of dollars and thousands of hours I've spent building, maintaining, and rebuilding my sites, but that one site is the only one that has never had any problems

It is also the site I've spent the least amount of time and effort building. I add a few pages now and then, and it keeps plugging away for me, night and day.

I picked a difficult topic when I started AYearFromNow.com and it has been harder to conceptualize and write than my other sites, and, still, thousands of people visit it every month. It more than pays for itself, and that wasn't even the purpose of the site when I started it.

I have two other sites in the planning process and both of them will be built using Site Build It. I've learned my lesson. 

You can build a successful site, too, no matter your experience level.

I've watched hundreds of people do it.

Act on your dream!

JD

 

Building Your Successful Website 

Advice that has been hard won

I started building websites to earn a living as an affiliate marketer, and that's what I do now - full-time.

If a website doesn't earn a profit, I have no reason to continue building and improving it. I earn 100% of my income from online marketing and I just can't waste my time and effort on a site that doesn't quickly become successful.

In the past, I've done a lot of testing and experimenting with lots of ways to build a website and that's why I know for sure that Site Build It will give you your best chance of building a successful website the first time around.

I first met Ken Evoy when I purchased Make Your Site Sell!, an ebook that cost me $30 and which provided the knowledge and helped me develop the skills to build successful websites.

I have earned back that $30 many, many times.

Now, you can download Make Your Site Sell! for free. Even if you decide not to use Site Build It to build your next successful website, I highly recommend this ebook. It may be a few years old, but I still refer to it on a regular basis and the high-quality information about developing your unique selling position and targeting your audience will never be outdated.

You'll see at first glance that Ken over-delivers on all his products. I've spent well over $100 for courses on building websites and online marketing and you can get one of the best absolutely free by downloading, reading, and acting upon what you will learn in MYSS.

For much more information about Site Build It!, please see my Site Build It! lens, here at Squidoo.

Before you go, I know that Site Build It may not be the perfect choice for everyone, and it doesn't do everything that can be done on a website.

However, for the 80% or more of the people who don't want to become technical wizards, Site Build It! offers the best combination and collection of tools to build your site, and more importantly, to connect with your visitors and to sell your products and services.

No, you can't run MySQL, PHP, FTP, and many of the other technobabble abbreviations on Site Build It.

But, you can build a site that attracts real live visitors and, by developing the content that only you can provide, you can build trust and demonstrate your expertise in your chosen area.

That is much more important to building a successful website than anything else.

Click the banner, below, for more information on Site Build It!

Special SiteSell Promotion

Links related to Site Build It! 

Site Build It!
Learn how to write Content that attracts Traffic (visitors) so you can Presell them on your products and services and Monetize your website - all by following a step-by-step method that has worked for thousands of others. You can learn how to build a successful website, too.
Site Build It, a revolution in website design, hosting, and promotion
Information about Site Build It! and links to how you can get started building your own successful website. Includes links to other lenses about Site Build It, to sites build using SBI, and to comments from Site Build It webmasters.
Who is Ken Evoy?
Ken Evoy is the CEO of Sitesell, Inc., and the creator of Site Build It!. Learn more about Ken on this lens.

Site Build It Poll 

Loading poll. Please Wait...

Things to Hate about Site Build It! 

What you dislike the most about SBI

Can't host a forum

It would be great to be able to host a forum on my own subdomain on sites hosted by Site Build It.0 points

I want unlimited autoresponders

While Site Build It offers flexible autoresponders, the sequence is limited to too few mailings. I want more! To get unlimited autoresponders, I have to use Aweber, GetResponse, TrafficWave, or another service.0 points

Things to Love about Site Build It! 

What you like the most about SBI

I love the step by step process for building a successful website

By following the ten step action guide, it is easy to tackle a complex process and break it down into easy-to-accomplish steps. Nobody else offers anything close to this.1 point

The friendly and very helpful SBI forum

This, for members only, forum offers a friendly space where hundreds of fellow webmasters offer advice and help as we build our sites. Regardless of one's level of expertise or experience, there are others who can help us get over obstacles or see the forest and not just the trees.1 point

The automatic page submitter

Behind the scenes, there is a program that automatically submits our new pages to the search engines - on the search engine's preferred schedule. I don't have to think about it. Just build a page and publish. The system does the rest.1 point

Automatic sitemap for the search engines

Site Build It may have been the first to offer automatic sitemaps for the search engines. When a search engine changes it's preferred format, I don't have to do anything. Site Build It does it for me.1 point

All of the wonderful people I've met who also are Site Build It webmasters

I've met people from all over the world in the SBI forums who are busy building their own successful websites, but who are not too busy to offer help and advice to others doing the same thing. Instead of being competitors, we are colleagues. What other webhosting company can say that?1 point

The page analyzer

When I build a new page, the analyzer helps me target my page to a particular keyword phrase and helps to make sure I use that phrase often enough to help the page be found, but not so much that I'll annoy people who come to read the page.1 point

Inspiration from Ken Evoy

Seldom does one see a CEO who seeks input from his customers the way Ken Evoy does. He is an inspiration to us folks who are looking to do something like what he and John Dilbeck do.1 point

Content 2.0

This new feature was added in August 2007 and offers an easy and efficient way to build community on your site by inviting your visitors to post their stories and photos on your site. It is then possible to comment on the articles and photos and rate them.1 point

Information about Site Build It 

From 21st Century Affiliate Marketing

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

More information about Site Build It! 

Books on HTML and CSS 

You have to have the basic knowledge!

Even with all the tools that Site Build It provides, you still need to learn the basics of HTML to build a website.

You may never need to know about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), but maybe your interests will take you in that direction.

HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Amazon Price: $23.09 (as of 11/28/2009) Buy Now

Usually ships in 24 hours

Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Amazon Price: $26.39 (as of 11/28/2009) Buy Now

Usually ships in 24 hours

Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, Graphics, and Beyond

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Amazon Price: (as of 11/28/2009) Buy Now

HTML for Dummies

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Amazon Price: (as of 11/28/2009) Buy Now

Share your thoughts with us! 

I welcome your feedback

Do you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions, or any other feedback about this lens and/or Site Build It?

Here's your place to tell us what's on your mind.

Thanks for visiting!

submit
  • Reply
    johndilbeck johndilbeck Dec 19, 2008 @ 7:38 pm | in reply to painternc
    It depends upon what you mean by creatively limited. You can design the pages using any software you want and upload them. You can make the pages look pretty much how you want.

    There are some limitations since you can't use PHP with SBI, if that would limit what you want to do.

    The step by step page builder is more limited than uploading your own pages.

    I like the simple SBI designs and, even though I upload my own, I kept it looking pretty simple so it loads fast and is easily indexed by the search engines.

    i sent you a DM on Twitter. I'd be happy to discuss this with you in email, or continue the discussion here or on one of my forums, if you'd like.

    Act on your dream!

    JD
  • Reply
    painternc painternc Dec 19, 2008 @ 10:05 am
    I'm very interested to have found your take on SBI - I've been looking at it for about 2 years - what I hear most is how limiting it is creativiely - the look of it versus what you can do with a WP theme or custom site.
  • Reply
    johndilbeck johndilbeck Aug 22, 2007 @ 2:06 am
    Hi Mike,

    I think I would have been doing much better if I had concentrated most of my efforts on SBI rather than blogging and building big sites the old way.

    Act on your dream!

    JD
  • Reply
    michael-logan michael-logan Jul 22, 2007 @ 7:55 pm
    Hi John,
    Thanks for sharing your experience with SBI. It is a reassurance to me that I have made a wise choice and will continue to learn until I too have as many web presences as you do. Mike Logan
  • Reply
    johndilbeck johndilbeck Jul 7, 2007 @ 5:25 am
    I hope you find this lens to be helpful. I welcome your feedback.

    Act on your dream!

    JD

John Dilbeck's Lulu Store 

Act On Your Dream! Spring 2008

This is the Spring 2008 edition of John Dilbeck's Act On Your Dream! newsletter, featuring an article about Jennifer Ledbetter who is also known as PotPieGirl.

Lulu Price: $0.00

by johndilbeck

TwitterCounter for @johndilbeck

John Dilbeck lives in the mountains of western North Carolina, near the small town of Murphy. He loves living in the southern Appalachian mountain... (more)

Explore related pages

Create a Lens!